NORTH BERGEN, NJ – (April 20, 2023) ILA Longshore Workers at waterfront facilities throughout New Jersey joined in collective cheers on Tuesday as word came out of Washington that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the State of New Jersey could unilaterally withdraw from the Waterfront Commission.
The unanimous decision by the nation’s highest court ends the Waterfront Commission’s seven-decade reign of terror at New Jersey ports where it crippled economic growth in the Metropolitan region; soaked millions of dollars from shippers forced to fund the agency and bring misery to generations of ILA longshore workers subjected to targeted harassment and loss of jobs.
“The ILA applauds our nation’s highest court for finally ending the horror of the Waterfront Commission in New Jersey,” said International Longshoremen’s Association President Harold J. Daggett. “By allowing New Jersey to unilaterally withdraw from the Waterfront Commission, a new era for our port begins today where ILA union members can work at their jobs free of harassment from an outdated and unneeded agency and companies can grow and prosper.”
The ILA leader said this crushing defeat for the Waterfront Commission is fitting retribution for an agency that dedicated itself for decades to acting more like a gestapo and little like a policing agency.
“The Commission made a habit of harassing and retaliating against honest, hardworking women and men of the ILA, purely because they exercised their federally guaranteed right to be a member of a union,” President Daggett said.
Many ILA longshore workers and leadership expressed sadness yesterday that that countless numbers of dedicated waterfront workers belonging to the ILA whose lives and careers were destroyed while suffering cruel harassment by the Waterfront Commission, were not here to witness this historic day for ILA Waterfront Workers.
As the State of New Jersey fought to dissolve itself from the Waterfront Commission, the ILA leaders urged New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy not to waiver on winning this battle in court as it made its way all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“I am thrilled that the U.S. Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that New Jersey has the right to withdraw from the Waterfront Commission,” Gov. Murphy said in a statement following the decision. “Over 90 percent of commerce at our port happens on the New Jersey side, and the New Jersey State Police is more capable of talking on the Commission’s law enforcement and regulatory responsibilities.”
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